Day 41

Air / Water temperature: -5°C (-15°C at night) / 4°C

Wind direction / Bft: West-southwest / 2-5

Area: THOLI STAGNUM (confused seasons) – Nautical chart showing the route

Combuse: Barramundi (1.2 kg) break out intestines, fillet and pull off the skin, rinse and pat dry. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the fillets, dust with flour and fry 5 minutes per side in a little canola oil until brown crispy. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil, sauté ½ chopped onion until translucent. Deglaze with 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 3 tablespoons lime juice. Stir in 2 tablespoons sambal oelek, bring to the boil. Stir in 4 tablespoons finely chopped coriander. Serve fish and sauce separately, together with white rice. (More recipes from the Chief cook of «PS Narina»)

Is there any promise more exciting than the bellow of a sailor from the mast: «Land in Sight!»? After days, weeks, on the high seas, the coastline promises the seafarer an end to his hard labour: firm ground beneath the feet at last; at last meat, at last dry clothes, a cosy inn. One knows that. But apart from the fulfilment of such concrete wishes, the shore, in a curious way, promises even more. It promises that everything will be all right, that the soul that has been battered by the raw seas will heal on land, become whole. Of course, the sailor know that the belief in this healing will start vanishing with every step he takes into terra firma – and that he will soon yearn to pick up his sea-sack again. The concept that land is a better world has meaning only when one is on the sea – safety is never as close as when it’s seen from the mast of a ship.  

The land-dweller also feels more or less the same way. When he stands on the shore of the ocean and directs his gaze at the viewing hatch, he senses the hint of a promise in the air: something out there promises to make him safe and whole. 

So, the seafarer’s longing is for a piece of land – and the land-dweller’s for a bit of sea. The snaking contours of the coast at once divide and bind two ideal worlds, two paradises, which can be looked at only from the outside, from the other element – the sea from the land and the land from the sea – and thus reach the highest degree of reality in the longing itself.

Next day (42)

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